25 Dishes Out-of-Towners Need to Try While in New York

Being a New Yorker brings with it a lot of pressures. The pressure to make enough money to live comfortably in an oversize closet, as opposed to being stuck in a regular-size closet. The pressure to achieve all of you’re dreams before your 30, or risk feeling like the next 40 to 50 years are pretty much a wash. The list goes on.

Perhaps one of the least discussed—but most deeply felt—points of concern is the pressure to show out-of-town guests why the hell you bother putting up with this place in the first place. They’re coming to New York City, after all, and they pretty much expect to have the best time ever, or else they will think you are a moron for living the way you do.

This is particularly true when it comes to eating out. Whether you’re entertaining parents looking to see if you’ve developed any class and taste since your Coors-and-ramen days, or hosting smug friends from other metropolises who think NYC restaurants are mad overrated, you’ve got some convincing to do.

So how do you bust out the culinary fireworks and show your out-of-town cohorts why this city is the most magical goddamn food city in the land? We’ve come up with 25 dishes—from cheap eats to blowout splurges, old-school classics to new standouts—that will do the trick.

Do you have a dish that you can’t let out-of-towner’s leave without trying? Let us know in the comments.

The Black Label Burger at Minetta Tavern

Neighborhood: West Village
Address and phone: 113 MacDougal St (212-475-3850)
Website:minettatavernny.com
While many other great burgers have been born in this city (Shake Shack, the Burger Joint, and Corner Bistro, to name just a few), this luxe behemoth is the one that best encapsulates the things New York loves—quality, decadence, and money. Made from cuts of dry-aged Pat LaFrieda beef, the $26 patty is the highend steakhouse burger against which all others are measured, delivering on every penny with taste. Consumed inside Keith McNalley’s magical West Village clubhouse, with its checkered floors and polished tin ceiling, makes the Black Label Burger an all-compassing experience. The best scene to be had is at the laid-back, dark-wood bar, where tie-clad barkeeps serve dark stouts and brown-and-stirred cocktails for tourists and regulars alike.—HN

The Mutton Chops at Keen's Steakhouse

Neighborhood: Midtown West
Address and phone: 72 W 36th St (212-947-3636)
Website:keens.com
Albert Keen opened this steakhouse back in 1885 to cater to actors in the old Herald Square Theater district. It remains one of New York's best throwbacks—a place to eat seared steaks and clank beer steins amid dark wood and paintings of old white dudes. Counterintuitively, though, the true highlight of the menu s the gargantuan mutton chop—a hunk of glistening lamb saddle swaddled in fat served over a pile of sauteed greens. The entire experience is one frozen in time, and even the name of the dish is the stuff of legend—it's lamb, not mutton, but tradition is tradition so just go with it.—HN

Chicken Paitan Ramen at Totto Ramen

Neighborhood:Hell’s Kitchen
Address and phone: 366 W 52nd St (212-582-0052)
Website:tottoramen.com
Ramen is New York's latest food obsession, and since Momofuku Noodle Bar made the Japanese speciality "cool" in 2004, it's fair to say that NYC has become a formidable noodle town. A lot of people swear by the (admittedly great) tonkotsu experience at Ippudo, but my nod goes to Totto, a partially underground soup den that would be easy to pass by if not for the massive crowd of people regularly spilling out onto its steps.If you're lucky enough to grab one of the four tables (or even one of the similarly scarce seats at the bar), you'll understand why the wait was so long: This is the stuff of obsession. Once inside the simple, sparsely-appointed digs, grab yourself a Sapporo, ignore the crowd of jealous people ice-grilling you, and let the ramen sweats commence. The house special ramen combines Totto's signature soul-satisfying, full-flavored chicken-bone broth with perfectly al dente noodles and blowtorch-charred pork. Pro tip: Go for the extra spicy version, laced with a house-made sauce made from charred-sesame oil, red chili pepper, black pepper, and garlic.—SC

Steak Frites at Balthazar

Neighborhood:Soho
Address and phone: 80 Spring Street (212-965-1414)
Website:balthazarny.com
It's just meat and potatoes. That's it. That's all it is, unless you count the choice of maître d’ butter or béarnaise sauce. And it's not even a particularly amazing cut of steak, in a town with better cheap cuts (see: St. Anselm), especially coming from a family of restaurants that includes Manhattan's best secret steakhouse, Minetta Tavern. There are better things on the menu, truly. The roast chicken for two, for example, is what you should be ordering. Or the steak tartare, with a half-carafe of Côtes du Rhône. Yet, for whatever reason, you keep ordering the steak frites. The butter and the béarnaise are brilliant in their richness. The french fries, soaked overnight, and cooked to a perfect crisp in peanut oil, are an achievement on their own. But realize, this isn't a dish about food, just like Balthazar is, at its core, not a restaurant about eating. It's about being in one of downtown Manhattan's most grandiose dining rooms, one of the few places in New York City where tourists mingle with A-Listers and Soho locals, one of the few places in the world where mere mortals can gawk at Anna Wintour as they stuff their gullets. And really, a plate of meat and potatoes is sometimes the perfect accompaniment to what's going on around you, lest anything extraordinary—like the Balthazar seafood tower—steal the show.—FK

Bagel and Lox at Russ & Daughters

Neighborhood: Lower East Side
Address and phone: 179 E Houston St (212-475-4880)
Website:russanddaughters.com
If bagels and bialys are innately New York staples, then so are the salads and spreads that top them. Though others have attempted to replicate what began 99 years ago on East Houston Street, few have even come close. Russ & Daughters stands as an historical marker of the appetizing stores that once filled the Lower East Side and continues to be one of the best places to get a bagel and lox in the entire city. Folds of delicately smoked salmon are piled onto whipped creamed cheese, while vert capers provide a briny pop with each bite. We like ours served on a poppy seed round with a few rings of raw red onion.—HN

Pastrami Sandwich at Katz's

Neighborhood: Lower East Side
Address and phone: 205 E Houston St (212-254-2246)
Website: katzsdelicatessen.com
Katz’s is to NY as Katz’s is to NY—it needs no comparison. Open for more 120 years, the famed Jewish deli still has counterstaff slicing every cut of pastrami, brisket, and corned beef to order, then handing meaty bits across counters for ticket-holding customers grab and chomp. The interaction in itself is worth the trip, not to mention the fact that the place makes some of the best smoked meat sandwiches in the world. Hot pastrami is riddled with a mixture of black pepper and coriander, and piled atop slices of Jewish rye smeared with brown mustard. Wait in line to get yours, then soak in the history: Four walls-of-fame decked out with signed photos, as well as the table where Harry met Sally.—HN

Plain and Square Pie at Di Fara

Neighborhood: Midwood, Brooklyn
Address and phone: 1424 Ave J (718-258-1367)
Website:difara.com
Just waiting for a pie at Di Fara’s feels like an innately Brooklyn experience. In the summer time, crowds spill out over Avenue J, with patrons vying for a chance to be seated at one of only a few tables inside the closet-sized spot. It’s hard not to picture the scene being repeated throughout the decades—the look of the crowd may change, but the thinly-spun crusts and sweet tomato sauced pies remain the same. As at any real pizza joint, the plain pie is the one to beat. Scattered with basil torn to order by owner Dom DeMarco, the triangular slices meld bouncy mozzarella, sharp Parmesan, and olive oil into sweet and salty bites. Square pies are doughier than their round counterparts, with pillowy white cushioning making for a breadier experience. Both varieties should be sampled for posterity’s sake.—HN

Oysters at Grand Central Oyster Bar

Neighborhood:Midtown West
Address and phone: 89 E 42nd St (212-490-6650)
Website:oysterbarny.com
If it isn't the most unlikely great restaurant in New York, or America, it's certainly up there. Unlike our European counterparts, Americans have absolutely done away with the spectacle of traveling, especially when it comes to trains and all of the dignity that mode of transportation brings along with it. The food associated with travel, too, has gone completely to the birds: Our nation's transportation hubs have succumbed to the monolithic influence of Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, Burger King, and truly mediocre sports bar food. For a taste of the old-school, head to Grand Central, one of nation's last great train stations, and its most appropriate dining destination: The Oyster Bar, a subterranean paradise of fresh bivalves and stiff martinis. It offers one of the city's finest and most reasonably priced selections of oysters, in one of its most incredible and unpretentious settings—as glamorous for what it is as for what it isn't. Because, at the end of the day, they're just oysters, served in a train station. But in 2013, in America, isn't that something?—FK

Shrimp Dumpling and Noodle Soup at Great NY Noodletown

Neighborhood: Chinatown
Address and phone: 28 Bowery (212-349-0923)
Website:greatnynoodletown.com
Savvy New Yorkers���particularly those in the service industry—know that NY Noodletown has one of the few Chinatown that stays open late, and popping in for Cantonese-style noodles after a little drinking is an essential downtown experience. Served in scalding hot broths that range in murkiness depending on variety, the noodles twist around cuts of roasted duck and pork, or springy shrimp stuffed in delicate wrappers. You'll be thirsty as hell from the salty broth, but no worries—you can always go back to drinking afterward.—HN

Hot Dog at Gray's Papaya (72nd Street)

Neighborhood: Upper West Side
Address and phone: 2090 Broadway (212-799-0243)
Ah, the humble hot dog—one of New York City's most ubiquitous foodstuff genuses, and yet, so often one of its worst. Unlike the average slice of New York City pizza—which, compared to the rest of America's regular eats, is an achievement in and of itself—the average New York City hot dog (better known by its species name, Dirty Water Dog) is a tubesteak of unsavory origins, and even worse taste. And yet, on the Upper West Side (the only location you should visit), there it sits, as it always has, a disconcertingly well-lit and flamboyant signage-ridden mecca of simple, all-hours, standing-room-only eating: Gray's Papaya. And what makes their hot dogs so good? No, not the sautéed onions with ketchup or the sauerkraut with mustard, and the way OG New Yorkers will castigate you for fucking up either of those two delicate concoctions as though doing so would create a bomb leveling anything sacred about New York City food. It's not the papaya juice, the greatest and weirdest digestif you never knew about until the first time you had it—a weirdly chalky and funky drink that will embed itself in your consciousness, producing a craving that only arises the the least convenient or oddest possible moment. It's not even the Recession Special, a mathematical indicator of the economy that's slowly and sadly creept up over the years, recession or not—something Gray's ownership needlessly apologizes for every time it happens (and still, it's always remained one of our town's great bargains: Two dogs and a drink for how much?). No: It's the snap. When you bite into a Gray's dog, cooked to a perfect amount of crispness on a griddle, it snap in your teeth almost with a crackle, a small explosion that sends your synapses firing, making any questions you have about the meat you're eating or the derelict giving you creepy eyes right outside the window disappear for a single, brief instant of total New York City bliss.—FK

Oyster Pan Roast at The John Dory

Neighborhood: NoMad
Address and phone: 1196 Broadway (212-792-9000)
Website: thejohndory.com
It arrives so curiously: A little yellow bowl of soup, with what appears to be a measly, emaciated slice of baguette resting on top of it, slathered in a compound butter. This, you think, is the great April Bloomfield's oyster pan roast? Don't be fooled. Sitting in front of you in a neat, tidy, and small package is a dish that could leave you full by itself—a seemingly humble bowl of soup that is, in reality, one of the greatest and richest dishes in our city, packed with flavor that will knock you on your ass a la Mike Tyson in comeback mode: Three punches. Boom, boom, boom: No mas, you say, taking another bite of the bread after you dip it in the soup, realizing that the spread on top is actually uni butter—yes, fucking uni butter. There is only one way to eat this dish, and it's not with a spoon: Order the freshly baked Parker House rolls with it. There's your spoon, or sponge more accurately. As Elton John once sang: "Mars ain't no place to raise your kids." This isn't a dish to eat more than a few times a year, if that, so rich is it that you run the risk of tolerance, wanting to take two, three, four hits as you keep going back. Don't. The thrill is worth the restraint; after all, unlike Mars, The John Dory's oyster pan roast is neither cold nor somewhere you must go alone. But like Elton, you'll never, ever return the same person once you've been to Mars. That's something worth preserving.—FK

Banh Mi at Banh Mi Saigon

Neighborhood: Little Italy
Address: 198 Grand St (212-941-1541)
Website:banhmisaigonnyc.com
It seems like only yesterday that the banh mi was the breakout star of the New York cheap-eats pantheon. The furor has died down a bit, but there are still plenty of great examples to be found—many of which predate the "trend," mind you. One of the most fun to take visitors to is Banh Mi Saigon Bakery, which shares space with a jewelry store at the nexus of Chinatown and Little Italy (even after a recent upgrade in digs it still maintains its offbeat charm). Get the No. 1, packed with house made pork sausage, a smear pork pate, and a flurry of bright toppings like pickled carrot, spears of cucumber, and cilantro. Oh, and order "spicy" to get it kicked up to the next level with thin slices of jalapeño.—CS

Papri Chaat at Jackson Diner

Neighborhood: Jackson Heights, Queens
Address and phone: 37-47 74th St (718-672-1232)
Website: jacksondiner.com
Heading to the Jackson Diner is always an interesting experience, from the year-round Christmas lights continuously strung down 74th Street to the weird 1980s Art Deco interior inside the brightly lit restaurant. Whether that adds to the charm or detracts doesn't really matter once you start digging into delicious tandoori dishes and plates of goat and lamb curry. While ordering a massive spread to share is the way to go, make sure to include the completely vegetarian chaat—excellent renditions of the traditional street snacks found throughout India. My favorite is the papri chaat served cold with chickpeas, potatoes, bits of fried dough, yogurt, and tamarind.—HN

Al Pastor Taco at Taco Mix

Neighborhood: Spanish Harlem
Address: 234 E 116th St # 1
We've already established the reasons why hating on Mexican food in New York is lame. But if you're looking to convert an out-of-towner to the joys of our local taquerias, you've got two choices: Sunset Park or Spanish Harlem. For my money, Taco Mix is the place to go—a hole-in-the-wall with an al pastor spit spinning in the window that should not ignored. The spice-marinated pork is shaved directly into warm, pliant tortillas, topped with a few chunks of grilled pineapple, smoky salsa, and a shower of cilantro, then served to you on flimsy paper plates. These are tacos as they should be—not overstuffed, but rather achieving a perfectly balanced trifecta of meat, carbs, and fixins. If your L.A. friends are still hating, who needs 'em.—CS

Red Velvet Donut at Peter Pan Bakery

Neighborhood: Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Address: 727 Manhattan Ave (718-389-3676)
The rise of new-wave donut spots in NYC has resulted in endless experimental flavors, from hibiscus to crème brûlée. The 30-year-old Peter Pan Bakery in Greenpoint might not be as inventive, but it's untouchable when it comes to the classics. My favorite is the signature Red Velvet cake donut, which has gained a cultish reputation in the neighborhood. The sinker is a deep crimson color, and it has a perfect textural balance of dense cakiness, with a light, crispy layer of glaze on the exterior. Grab a coffee and sit at the bar with the locals—it's the perfect morning or mid-afternoon pitstop for a sweet snack.—LB

Burger at J.G. Melons

Neighborhood: Upper East Side
Address and phone: 1291 3rd Ave (212-744-0585)
When guests come from out of town, don't waste precious time standing in a Madison Square Park line for a Shack Shack burger (sorry Danny, but you've got other wins on this list). Instead, share a real New York experience. Up on Third Avenue, Melon's has been serving burgers in its narrow space since '74. It's the type of place one goes for a stiff drink and a meal to match—a perfect bar burger and optional (but highly recommended) cottage fries and bowl of chili. Think of it as a living relic, a throwback to when cheap eats met preppy ideals, and NYC had real class.—NS

Lamb Chops at Tamarind

Neighborhood: Tribeca
Street and phone: 99 Hudson St, Tribeca, New York (212-775-9000)
Website:tamarinde22.com/tribeca
You could have a perfectly satisfying and cheap meal in Curry Hill, but if you really want to impress an Indian food lover, take them to experience the glory of the tandoors at Tamarind. The breads and meats that come out of these clay ovens are nothing short of remarkle, especially the lamb chops. These are the types of chops that Mughal emperors would have been proud of, and the type of meat with enough flavor to sing through its coating of spice. You could fall back on a French restaurant if your guests are looking for an elegant meal during their stay, but why not prove your cosmopolitan cache and take them to one of NYC's most accomplished Indian restaurants?—NS

Crispy Chinese Watercress Salad at Sripraphai

Neighborhood: Woodside, Queens
Address and phone: 64-13 39th Ave (718-899-9599)
Website: sripraphairestaurant.com
Widely regarded as the city’s most venerable Thai restaurant (since before the import of Pok Pok Ny rolled into town), Sripraphai proves a point seasoned New York eaters all know: If you want to best ethnic eats, head out to Queens. The menu is packed with hits, but the crispy watercress salad is one dish that you can't miss. While crisped kale chips might now be a common household snack, lightly battered and fried watercress offers flavors less recognized, especially when tossed together with toasted cashews, oyster mushrooms, lime juice, and chilies. Bright, fishy, acidic, and mind-blowingly hot, the salad is a dish that won't soon be forgotten by your buds.—HN

Roti at Gloria's

Neighborhood: Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Address and phone: 764 Nostrand Ave (718-773-3476)
Now that Anthony Bourdain and Michael K. Williams have visited this neighborhood West Indian spot on No Reservations, it might not be considered so under-the-radar. No matter: A little fame doesn’t make Gloria’s any less awesome, and if you're guest is a Wire fan, you'll have a good story to tell. The rotis are what you're here for—bursting with fillings ranging from conch and curry chicken, to goat and chana (curry fried chickpeas). If you’re a meat eater, go for the tender stewed oxtail that fills the thin breaded pockets and melts in your mouth, or the curried goat—but watch out for bones. Sides like callaloo, pigeon peas, and fried plantains are nice add-ons if you're in the mood to feast.—HN

Cauliflower Pizza at Sullivan Street Bakery

Neighborhood: Hell’s Kitchen
Address and phone: 533 W 47th St (212-265-5580)
Website:sullivanstreetbakery.com
Out of towners may be surprised to learn that New York bread goes beyond the bagel. It makes sense that the pizza capital of the world would have the dough game on lock—half of the pizza battle is in the bread. So, it comes as no shock that Sullivan St Bakery, the carb-purveyor to many of the city’s best restaurants—Jean Georges and Gramercy Tavern among them—is also one of the city's exceptional pizza makers. So exceptional that owner and yeast whisperer Jim Lahey can even turn nondescript vegetables into home runs. Case in point, the cauliflower pizza. The rectangular slice pairs SSB’s trademark dense, crunchy crust with caramelized cauliflower, roasted garlic, and tiny morsels of green olives underneath a healthy coating of Parmigiano-Reggiano. An under-the-radar gem.—SC

Breakfast Sandwich at Maialino

Neighborhood: Gramercy
Address and phone: 2 Lexington Ave (212-777-2410)
Website:maialinonyc.com
While it is ridiculous to claim breakfast sandwiches are an unheralded New York foodstuff, they certainly don't get the hoopla of pizza and hot dogs. Yet every corner bodega and Midtown breakfast cart serves a passable bacon, egg, and cheese on a hard roll. The ubiquity of decent egg-and-cheese sandwiches in the city makes a stellar one something to be celebrated by New Yorkers and out-of-towners alike. Maialino (Danny Meyer's ode to the Roman trattoria) tops tender slices of roast pork with perfect sunnyside-up eggs and places the combo within a hearty ciabatta roll. It's a haute version of a NYC classic, but seriously, it's the best version. Moreover, the soothing dining room and quiet location near Gramercy Park jumpstarts the day better than a hastily inhaled bodega sandwich (you can save that for when you're alone and hungover).—NS

Bacon at Peter Luger

Neighborhood: South Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Address and phone: 178 Broadway (718-387-7400)
Website:peterluger.com
Former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni once suggested that "no other steakhouse serves a porterhouse so breathtaking." While this statement might get some knickers in a twist, extolling the virtues of the Luger bacon appetizer is far less controversial. A decade ago, this meaty treat was off the menu. Now, the thick Canadian slabs, served perfectly crisped with no condiments, are no longer a secret, but they will display your savvy when showing guests how to really get the most out of this venerable Brooklyn institution.—NS

Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles at Xi'an Famous Foods

Address: Multiple locations
Website:xianfoods
We don't just have Cantonese and Szechuan food in New York—we also have specialties from obscure parts of China like the ancient city of Xi'an in the north-central part of the country, once a key stop on the Silk Road. Here you'll find masters of cumin-spiked lamb, which finds its way into a phenomenally cheap, phenomenally tasty "burger" ($3) as well as a plate of chewy, dense hand-pulled noodles slicked with chili oil and showered with bright garnishes. Of the four locations, I like the off-the-beaten-path romance of the Manhattan Chinatown one (67 Bayard St), where you can carry your styrofoam plate of noodles to a wall counter and go to town.—CS

Garganelli with Truffle Butter and Prosciutto at Osteria Morini

Neighborhood: Soho
Address and phone: 218 Lafayette St (212-965-8777)
Website:osteriamorini.com
Yes, you could go to Marea, chef Michael White's crown jewel, to get the already-iconic fusilli with wine-braised octopus and bone marrow. But for a more casual way to enjoy the Prince of Pasta's cooking, hit up his rustic, Bolognese-inspired tavern on Soho. Even in a town with some unbelievable Italian restaurants, the handmade pastas here stand apart, and unless your visitors are coming straight from Emilia-Romagna, they probably haven't tasted anything like this. My favorite is the garganelli coated with slightly sweet truffle cream and scattered with tufts of prosciutto bursting with salty, porky flavor. But who are you kidding? You're ordering multiple pastas, so follow that up with the tortilla stuffed with rich braised meats, and the gramigna with crumbled pork sausage and creamy, black pepper-spiked tomato sauce.—CS

Beef patty with Coco Bread at Christie's

Neighborhood: Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Address and phone: 387 Flatbush Ave (718-636-9746)
Website:christiesjamaicanpatties
You can now find Jamaican-style patties in the frozen foods aisle at grocery stores in whatever podunk city you hail from (or a lot of the podunk cities you hail from). But to get a patty this fresh and flakey, you'll have to go to Kingston—or at least deep into Brooklyn or the Bronx. The Jamacian beef patty, for the uninitiated, is an empanada with a slightly thinner crust and a slightly gooier inside. Christie's has beef, chicken, and veggie; they're all great, but go with the beef if dietary restrictions allow. The ground meat is juicy and spicy, with just a hint of sweet. The coco bread, used like a bun, isn't strictly necessary, but it does provide an ideal pillowy handle for your patty.—JE

Being a New Yorker brings with it a lot of pressures. The pressure to make enough money to live comfortably in an oversize closet, as opposed to being stuck in a regular-size closet. The pressure to achieve all of you're dreams before your 30, or risk feeling like the next 40 to 50 years are pretty much a wash. The list goes on.
Perhaps one of the least discussed—but most deeply felt—points of concern is the pressure to show out-of-town guests why the hell you bother putting up with this place in the first place. They're coming to New York City, after all, and they pretty much expect to have the best time ever, or else they will think you are a moron for living the way you do.
This is particularly true when it comes to eating out. Whether you're entertaining parents looking to see if you've developed any class and taste since your Coors-and-ramen days, or hosting smug friends from other metropolises who think NYC restaurants are mad overrated, you've got some convincing to do.
So how do you bust out the culinary fireworks and show your out-of-town cohorts why this city is the most magical goddamn food city in the land? We've come up with 25 dishes—from cheap eats to blowout splurges, old-school classics to new standouts—that will do the trick.
Do you have a dish that you can't let out-of-towner's leave without trying? Let us know in the comments.
Written by Shanté Cosme (@ShanteCosme), Chris Schonberger (@cschonberger), Nick Schonberger (@nschon), Foster Kamer (@weareyourfek), Jack Erwin (@JackEComplex), and Hannah Norwick (@HannahNorwick)

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